By Randy Caravaggio
Following the victory of the Cuban revolution, it didn’t take the corporate media long to start with their lies, accusations and distortions against it.
They know how to serve and protect ruling-class interests: The only way they can succeed in doing so, to justify the controlling and unequal society they’ve put in place, is through their lies.
To expose the history of lies that Washington has perpetrated against the Cuban revolution would take more space than this article, but concentrating on this year alone provides a good sense of the picture.
On January 29, the Trump administration unilaterally, criminally and illegally imposed an order of a full oil blockade against the island. All over the country, Cubans are having to cook with charcoal or wood, electrical blackouts are as long as 40 hours, schools are mostly shut down and there are shortages of water, food, medicine and all kinds of other necessities.
Hospitals can only assist patients in emergency situations and surgeries are reduced to very few for extreme necessities. Industrial production has come to a standstill since factories can’t operate without power. Food production and distribution has become enormously expensive and transportation is very difficult to operate, if at all.
The criminal and immoral actions of the US government are an act of aggression that targets all sectors vital to national survival: fuel, remittances, tourism, medical cooperation and finances have all come to a standstill.
To justify its barbaric behaviour against such a small country, Washington has formulated various accusations, distortions and lies against Cuba’s revolutionary government. These are disseminated through their brainwashing corporate ruling-class media.
Lie #1: Cuba is a threat
The first lie is contained within the Executive Order imposed on January 29. It declares a “national emergency” based on the fallacy that Cuba constitutes an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security.
Historically, Cuba has not threatened, invaded or initiated conflicts with any nation. Instead, it has promoted peace and supported peace initiatives across various international platforms. This raises the question of how Cuba could be considered a national security threat to the US. The US possesses the most advanced weaponry in the world and maintains a defense budget of $997 billion, significantly larger than Cuba’s budget of $0.1 billion.
Lie #2: Cuba is harming the US
The second lie coming out of Trump’s mouth, and written to justify Washington’s recent criminal actions, is that Cuba has “taken extraordinary actions that harm and threaten the United States.”
According to this falsehood, “The regime aligns itself with – and provides support for – numerous hostile countries, transnational terrorist groups and malign actors adverse to the United States, including the Government of the Russian Federation (Russia), the People’s Republic of China, the Government of Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah.
“For example, Cuba blatantly hosts dangerous adversaries of the United States, inviting them to base sophisticated military and intelligence capabilities in Cuba that directly threaten the national security of the United States. Cuba hosts Russia’s largest overseas signals intelligence facility, which tries to steal sensitive national security information of the United States. Cuba continues to build deep intelligence and defense cooperation with the China.”
And it goes on.
Despite the widespread reporting on this matter by various corporate and ruling-class news outlets, no evidence has been provided to substantiate the claims being made. They are all lies and accusations with no weight of whatsoever.
Lie #3: Raúl Castro murdered US civilians
The third recent lie is the US indictment charging Raul Castro and five others in connection with the Cuban military’s fatal downing of two planes 30 years ago. The indictment asserts that Raul and the others were responsible for shooting down civilian planes operated by the Florida-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue in February 1996. It resulted in the deaths of four individuals, with the indictment claiming that the planes were outside of Cuban airspace.
Washington doesn’t bother to state that Brothers to the Rescue was founded by José Basulto, a well-known terrorist who was trained by the CIA. Basulto was using the organization as a terrorist organization to oust the Cuban government, with multiple flights over Cuban airspace which dropped leaflets on Cuba’s territory to incite people to rise against the government. On each occurrence, the Cuban government warned the US government that actions would be taken by Cuba if Brothers to the Rescue didn’t stop.
Lie #4: Cuba uses forced labour and human trafficking
Another lie worth mentioning is about Cuba’s international medical missions. Cuban doctors have worked in over 160 countries, providing medical care and saving lives. Most of them go to the most remote areas on the globe where people in those areas have never seen a doctor and where no other doctors go.
The US accuses Cuba of using forced labour and human trafficking in such missions, implying that doctors are being forced to go. Washington fails to state that Cuba has more doctors per capita than any other country in the world. Cuba’s education system is free from the cradle to the grave for every citizen, and Cuban doctors who participate in international missions are paid more than if they work at home. All of them are volunteering for those missions.
These are the type of lies, distortions, accusations and manipulations that are constantly packaged by US media outlets. They are aimed at undermining Cuba’s socialist system, and are used to rationalize a cruel and inhumane blockade that contravenes international law.
But it’s important to acknowledge that the overwhelming amount of people around the globe do not accept these US lies. With its barbaric activities against everyone everywhere, the United States is exposed for what it truly is – with its accusations, kidnappings of presidents, invasions, genocides, wars and destruction, more people are waking up to the negative effects US policies are having on all of us.
Against these lies stands the truth: since the victory of the revolution, Cuba has consistently advocated for peace, justice and equality. It has stood in solidarity with all progressive movements and revolutions on this planet. All its many accomplishments have been shared with other countries and people. Its commitment to internationalism remains unparalleled.
The author is active in Victoria Friends of Cuba
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